


a scientific cat-astrophe

by scarletite



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Cat!Laura, F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-28
Updated: 2018-01-28
Packaged: 2019-03-10 09:39:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13499346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scarletite/pseuds/scarletite
Summary: "What," Carmilla said slowly, "the hell is this?"LaFontaine grimaced. "That," they said carefully, "is your girlfriend."The cat in her lap gave a plaintive mew.[AKA: Laura is turned into a cat due to an experiment gone awry. It's weird for everybody involved.]





	a scientific cat-astrophe

"What," Carmilla said slowly, "the hell is this?"

LaFontaine grimaced. "That," they said carefully, "is your girlfriend."

The cat in her lap gave a plaintive mew.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, gingersnap, but last I checked my girlfriend wasn't a housecat." Carmilla picked the tabby up by the scruff, holding it up at eye level. It mewed again, its honey-colored eyes sad. She shifted a baleful glare to LaFontaine. "Explain."

They took an uneasy step back. "Yeah, well. About that." They held their hands up defensively. "I didn't mean to!"

"What. Did. You. Do?"

"So, Laura was helping me with an experiment. She, uh, stole a sample of some of your fur the last time you were shifted?" They flinched under the full force of her glare. "Yeah, well, I wanted to see how the transformation worked—you know, from a biological standpoint. And I thought I'd finally figured it out, and that we could replicate it with this mixture—or, well, potion more like. Anyway. We were almost done! All we had to do was add a little blood! But then Laura, she accidentally tipped the sample over on herself, and, well. Yeah."

Carmilla stared at the cat, which wriggled but couldn't escape the hold. "Fix. It."

"I'm working on it!" They defended. "Hypothetically, she should be able to turn back on her own. Eventually."

"How soon is eventually?"

They rubbed the back of their neck. "Uh, soon? Ish? Like, forty-eight hours? I think?"

"You think?" Carmilla asked, danger in her tone. "Or you know?"

They shrunk back. "Definitely no longer than a week!"

At that, the cat's ears deflated, tail hanging limply. It let out another sad meow, pinning them both with pitiful looks. 

Carmilla blew out a sigh. "Can you understand me, Laura?"

The cat meowed.

"Alright." She set the tabby down in her lap again, stroking her back slowly. Meanwhile, her gaze shifted to LaFontaine. "Get out."

"Going!"

When the door slammed shut behind them, Carmilla gazed down at the cat, who purred softly, looking back up at her. "Well, cutie, I guess it's my turn to complain about the shedding."

Laura gave an offended mew, ears folding back.

 

* * *

 

The following day, and with the transformation still not reversed, the entire campus was treated to an unusual sight. 

"Is that?" Danny squinted across the courtyard, forgetting about the debate she'd been having with Kirsch. "Is that Carmilla?"

As far as her usual appearance went, there was nothing amiss: all leather, black, and dark eye make-up, ever the vampire stereotype. However, against the dark figure she cut, striding purposefully across the campus, there was a stark flash of white and brown. There, sitting placidly on top of her backpack, was a cat. It turned its head, meowing eagerly at them, rapidly tapping Carmilla's shoulder with its paw.

"Dude!" Kirsch shouted out to her. "You got a cat?"

Carmilla glanced at them, scowling. "No." She appeared to be talking more to the cat than them. "No, I refuse."

The cat slammed her shoulder a few more times.

"Ugh, cupcake, no."

It let out a sad meow, nuzzling the side of her cheek.

Carmilla groaned. "Fine."

The two were surprised when she stalked in their direction, despite the clear desire to leave written all over her face. "'Sup, Fido, Clifford. Fancy seeing you here."

Nonplussed by her usual prickly attitude, and too enamored by the feline clamoring all over Carmilla, Danny just gaped at her. 

Kirsch, as always, found his feet first. "Dude!" he repeated. "Who's this?"

Carmilla reached over her shoulder, grabbing the cat roughly by the scruff.

"Hey!" Danny called. "Don't grab it so roughly, you could hurt it!"

Ignoring Danny, she shoved the cat forward into Kirsch's outstretched hands. "Bro-Magnon, Xena," she responded, "meet Frankenstein's newest monster. Laura, say hi."

"Whoa, you named your cat after your girlfriend?"

Carmilla gave him a deadpan look. "Yes. That's exactly what I did."

"Kind of weird, dude. Doesn't it get confusing?" Kirsch asked. "What's Little Nerd think?"

"Why don't you ask her?"

He tilted his head. "Uh…"

"Laura," she sighed, looking to the sky. "Please, let me leave this hell."

The cat turned her head, giving her a narrow-eyed look. 

"Ugh." She raked a hand through her hair. "LaFontaine's moronic experiment backfired. So, until further notice, my girlfriend is a cat."

Danny's eyebrows rose. "Wow. That's really—" she glanced at the cat. "Laura?"

The cat mewed.

Kirsch ran his hand over her head, down her shoulders. "Whoa, Laura, how did you get your fur so soft?"

"Really?" Danny asked. "You're holding Laura—who's a cat—and that's the question you're asking?"

He shrugged. "I mean, she's super soft, D-Bear. Here, feel!"

Kirsch extended his arms, trying to pass Laura off to Danny, but before he could, Carmilla swept in between them. "We're going to be late," she said simply, snatching the feline and holding her close to her chest. She spun on her heel, stalking away. “Later."

 

* * *

 

“Miss Karnstein?” Professor Wilhelm, the ghost of a lecturer who had died in the thirties, and who’d refused to give up his tenure, called for her attention as she entered the room. “A word?”

Smothering a yawn—a three-o’clock class was too early, no matter what Laura said—she prowled over. “Yes?”

“Though Silas is quite a liberal university, there are still a set of rules that apply to all students who attend here. And I believe your familiar there,” his ghostly hand gestured to the feline perched on her shoulder, “isn’t flying the appropriate familiar flags.”

She gave him a flat look. “Right.”

“May I suggest getting her registered after class? The Department of Sorcery should be able to assist you with the appropriate blood rites.” He tossed her a serious look. “I’d hate for the campus security and detainment officers to try and apprehend her. They’re rather…unamenable to unregistered companions, I’m afraid. I’d hate to have to inform them.”

Carmilla flashed him a fanged hiss. “I think we’ll be alright, don’t you?”

The ghost shrunk back a little, going almost invisible. “Oh!” He floated backwards, through his desk, to the safety of the blackboard. “Yes, well, in that case—” he said hastily. “Class will begin shortly.”

“Mrr?” The cat huffed in her ear.

Carmilla reached up, running her hand down Laura’s spine. “No glorified animal control’s taking my girlfriend, two legs or four.”

Laura gave a low purr.

 

* * *

 

The University of Silas was plagued by many things: sirens in the swimming pool, a sentient library with a penchant for mischief, and a cavern of lizard people beneath the Student Center. But, more importantly, it was plagued by a particularly rampant rumor mill. With a school as strange as Silas, it wasn't unsurprising. People loved talking about the weird, wonderful and downright odd. And Carmilla Karnstein, always the subject of much discussion, had become an even more hot topic in the days since she'd surfaced with an excitable feline and her usual scowl.

Naturally, with the unusual absence of her girlfriend, and the attraction of a cute creature, she'd been approached by entirely too many people to count. And her patience was waning. Very much so.

"No." Carmilla flipped a page in the book she was studying, ignoring the cat rolling through the grass at her legs. "You can't touch her. Ever. Period."

Disheartened, the hopeful girl's shoulders dropped. "But she's so cute!"

"Yes. She is," Carmilla agreed. "And she's mine. So leave."

The cat crawled over her legs, scampering up Carmilla's thigh, pressing needle-like claws into skin.

"Ow, cupcake! Stop that!"

"Mrr!"

Carmilla rolled her eyes. "Do you  _want_ to be touched by everybody in Styria?" she asked. "That's how you get diseases."

The cat huffed.

"Don't give me that look."

The feline glare, slow blinking and tail flicking, only intensified. 

She scoffed. "Very intimidating."

Laura dug her claws in more, giving a soft hiss.

"Jesus!" Carmilla jumped, prying the feline off of her thighs. "You want to be held so bad? Fine!  _Here_."

The cat was practically launched at the hapless girl, who shrieked in surprise as she received a panicked armful of cat. "Wha—ow, get it off!" The girl tried to shake off the cat, who was clutching desperately at her shoulders, claws hooked into her shirt. "Get it off! Get it off!"

Carmilla just watched, dispassionate, as the girl finally shook her feline girlfriend off the front of her shirt. She almost threw the cat, who twisted in mid-air, landing on all fours in the grass. Without a single glance back, the girl took off down the field, shrieking about the  _psycho vampire and her devil cat._

Meanwhile, Laura rounded on Carmilla, settling stalking slowly up to her. She was the picture of fury, pupils thin as needles, ears back, tail fluffed up. She let out a low, rumbling hiss.

"Happy?" Carmilla grumbled. "Maybe now those morons will leave me alone for ten minutes."

Laura gave another low hiss. 

"Sorry, sweetheart, but I don't speak cat."

 

* * *

 

Laura was ignoring her. 

It was so juvenile, so moronic, Carmilla couldn't believe it. But she was. 

After the whole event of the afternoon, Laura had refused to let Carmilla pick her up, or hitch a ride in her backpack. Instead, she'd trotted three-feet ahead of her at all times, flicking her tail distastefully and turning her head away if she was talked to. Even after they got home, she persisted. The moment the dorm room door was opened, she disappeared inside. Carmilla hadn't seen her since.

The silence was deafening. No matter how long they'd lived together, Laura was always making noise: be it humming, typing, or (her favorite) babbling. To hear her quiet, whether involuntary or not, was odd. It made Carmilla's skin prickle, especially knowing that her girlfriend was mad at her. If she strained, she could hear movement, and the rhythmic thudding of a cat's heart, but tracking had never been her strongest skill.

"Seriously, Laura?" Carmilla huffed. "This is ridiculous. You can't ignore me forever, you know."

From somewhere in the room, she heard a low rumble.

"You don't have the luxury of ignoring me, sunshine. Not until you have opposable thumbs. You can't even open the door, how do you expect to eat or drink?"

There was a rustle from underneath Laura's bed, quiet by growing louder. With her sensitive hearing, Carmilla could make out the sound of scratching and irritable huffing. Curious, she climbed out of her own bed, dropping to her knees at the side of Laura's. She peered underneath. It was kind of a mess, packed as it was with all manner of boxes, bags and shoes.

In the corner closest to the headboard, a familiar feline body was buried headfirst in a shoebox. It paid her presence no mind, disappearing deeper into the box, the sound of rustling and clawing so much louder.

Carmilla frowned. "What are you doing?"

The cat paused. It disappeared bodily into the box, hissing.

"Really?" Rolling her eyes again, Carmilla reached out, seizing the box by the corner and dragging it out from under the bed. She received a few thwacks with a paw for her trouble, and a couple of claw-marks on her hands—thankfully, not strong enough to pierce her vampire skin. "Ow, shit, Laura! What are you—"

The cat stared innocently back up at her, a half-opened poptart package between her teeth.

"Are you serious?"

Her shoulders moved in the cat equivalent of a shrug, but her eyes were still glaring.

"Laura, you're a  _cat_ ," Carmilla reminded her. "You can't eat these! Why do you even have these? Is this your secret stash?"

When Carmilla reached out again, intending on taking the package away from her, Laura struck. She gave her a sharp rap on the hand, hissing a warning. Her tail had fluffed up, and she looked far from impressed with her girlfriend. The phrase  _if looks could kill_ was apt, immortality or not.

"Ow, damn it!" Carmilla pulled her hand back, studying the graze on her hand. "This is abuse, you know."

The cat hissed.

"You're seriously going to claw me to death over a poptart?"

She shrugged.

"Wow." Carmilla glowered at the cat. "Now that's just rude."

Laura matched the look.

Baring her teeth, Carmilla moved at vampire speed, reaching out and snatching her by the scruff. She ignored the hissing and spitting, lifting Laura up and holding her out at a safe distance.

It was impressive, actually, how long Laura struggled. Despite the involuntary curling of her back legs, and the instinctive limpness, she still wriggled and even tried to bite Carmilla. But, eventually, her struggles petered out. She just stared at Carmilla, chest heaving.

"You done?"

The cat's ears folded back, but she didn't hiss.

"Look," Carmilla set her down on the bed, sitting back on the floor, so they were almost eye-level. "I know you're frustrated. It's been three days, and I'm about as ready to have my girlfriend back as you are ready to be human again. It's a frustrating situation, for both of us. But getting angry does nothing."

Laura let out a deep sigh, tail curling around her paws. She averted her eyes from Carmilla, ears drooping.

"LaFontaine thinks it should only be a little bit longer." They'd been dropping in and out, running tests, and generally keeping and eye on things. Despite saying that she'd turn back on her own, they'd been working on reversing it 'just in case'. "But it's going to feel like an eternity if we spend the entire time angry at each other."

That, if nothing else, made Laura hunch over in shame.

Carmilla took a deep sigh, reaching up to brush her fingers under the cat's chin, tilting it up. "I love you, sweetheart," she said, pressing a soft kiss to her furry head. "And we'll figure this out."

Laura gave a soft purr, nuzzling into the hand.

 

* * *

 

Laura slept on Carmilla's chest that night, curled into the crook of her collarbone.

 

* * *

 

The next morning, Perry poked her head into their room, took one look at the fur that littered the furniture and the floor, and disappeared into the common room. She came back with a vacuum and a stern expression. "I hope you know how to use this," she told Carmilla, dragging it inside. "Emily, your neighbor, is allergic to cats. She made a formal complaint."

Carmilla, half-asleep and rumbling angrily, just tugged the blanket over her head. "Remind me again why I haven't eaten any of you?"

"Because your girlfriend discourages murder," Perry informed her primly, plugging it in. "Now, get up! The state of this room is disgraceful!"

Laura clambered up onto the headboard, giving a feline snicker.

Carmilla glowered.

"Honestly, Laura," Perry shifted her attention to the cat. "I recognize that not having opposable thumbs is an obstacle when it comes to cleaning, but that's no excuse to live in filth. Really, look at the state of this place! You've got fur on everything! You should really be more careful about where you sleep. It's going to take  _weeks_ to get all of the fur off everything."

It was Carmilla's turn to snicker, which turned into a full-blown chuckle at the cat's flabbergasted expression.

 

* * *

 

On the fifth evening with no change and with both of them going stir-crazy indoors to avoid the two groups on campus—one vying to touch Laura, the other determined she was evil—they finally decided to venture out again. 

Carmilla shoved a few things in her backpack, hustled Laura onto her shoulder, and then set off into the forest surrounding the campus. It was a reprieve from students, thankfully. Nobody wanted to mess with the fairies that made the trees their home, or risk a run in with the unruly lycanthropes that sometimes wandered the woods. 

"Mrr?" Laura inquired.

Carmilla followed an invisible path through the long grass and leaf litter, squinting slightly to see in the low light. "Patience, creampuff."

The cat huffed, tail curling around her girlfriend's shoulders.

A small smile escaped her, even as she steered sharply left to avoid a large toadstool she knew was home to a particularly vengeful gnome. Even as a cat, Laura was the only one besides Mattie who could provoke a smile out of her. She reached up, passing an absent hand down the feline's spine, startling a purr out of Laura.

Eventually, they came to an empty meadow, cut through by a stream. It sat at the foot of the mountains that penned Silas in, and she knew from experience that the water was as cold as ice, melted directly from the caps far above. The grass was long, thick with wildflowers. "Here we go, sweetheart," Carmilla set the cat down, smirking as she almost disappeared into the grass. "We're here."

The cat trotted after her, as she made her way to the middle of the clearing, where a large, flat rock jutted out. She practically had to jump every step. 

Carmilla dropped the bag, dug out a blanket and tossed it into the grass. She turned, giving Laura a wink, as a whirling of silver light slipped over her. It grew and shrank, shifting. And then, as fast as it appeared, it was gone.

Laura's tail perked. "Mrr?"

The panther gave a soft rumble in return, crouching down to but its massive head against the tiny one. Its tail swished slowly from side to side, and it dropped into a low crouch, pupils expanding.

The tabby shifted backwards, eyes widening.

Carmilla gave a low, warning rumble. Her shoulders shifted, claws digging into the dirt, her back half wiggling.

Tail puffing up, Laura took off at a run, pouncing through the grass.

Letting out a low roar, Carmilla took off after her, streaking under the moonlight.

 

* * *

 

When the two of them finally slunk back to the dorm room, after a well-deserved nap in the forest, it was after dawn.

Thankfully, there weren't many people about, and the general state of Silas meant that the moment anyone saw them, they took a sharp detour and traveled back the way they came. But still. Silas wouldn't forget the sight of a panther, a backpack in its jaws and a house cat asleep on its back, any time soon.

Especially not the unfortunate girl who, shoulders scarred from her run in with said cat a few days before, took one look at them coming down the hall and ran away screaming.

 

* * *

 

Perry shoved her way through the door later that morning.

"Due to a 'panther demon' sighting on campus, we're in lockdown," she announced. "Please, remain calm and—"

The panther curled up on the bed shifted, yawning widely, baring its teeth. It didn't even crack an eye. 

Curled up in the crook of its forepaws, the house cat lifted up its head, blinking tiredly at Perry. It gave a soft mew.

"Right. Well." Perry was as white as a sheet. "Carry on."

The panther purred, curling its paws tighter around the cat, soft rumbles turning into a frantic purr.

The cat laid its head back down, purring in tandem, and closed its eyes.

 

* * *

 

It was the middle of the afternoon, and Carmilla was well into her REM cycle when she noticed a familiar weight drop onto her chest.

"Mm," her eyes cracked open, meeting warm brown ones. "Well, you're a sight for sore eyes."

Laura gave a long, groaning stretch, wrapping her arms tightly around Carmilla's neck. "I'm me!" she grinned, nuzzling the side of Carmilla's cheek with her nose. "I'm me, I'm me, I'm me! No more cat!"

She sat up, dragging Laura into her lap. She took an appreciative look at her, running her hands from her neck, down her back, and gripping firmly to her hips. "That you're not," she agreed, raking her eyes up and down. A spark of interest shone in her eyes. " _Definitely_ not a cat."

Laura glanced down at herself, following her girlfriend's gaze. "I'm me!" she repeated, cheeks pink. "A very naked me!"

A smirk. "I repeat: a sight for sore eyes."

Shaking her head, Laura leaned forward, connecting her lips with Carmilla's. "I've missed you," she sighed, leaning her forehead against Carmilla's. "And also hands. Hands are great."

Carmilla chuckled, kissing her back, hard and fast. "I've missed you too," she replied, reaching up and catching one of Laura's hands, pressing a kiss between her knuckles. She raised an eyebrow. "What do you say we put them to good use, hm?"

"Oh." Laura's eyes darkened. "Well, when you put it like that…"

They fell back into bed.

 

* * *

 

The door flew open.

"Hey guys, I finally got the cure, it's—naked!" LaFontaine took one look at them, their eyes zeroing in on the tangle of limbs in the bed, before they turned the same color as their hair. They wheeled sharply around, slamming the door shut. "Never mind!"

Carmilla and Laura shared a glance.

"We need to start locking it."

Laura nodded. "Agreed."

"Later," Carmilla proposed, leaning up to reconnect their lips, dragging Laura back down. 

A jolt rocked through Laura, and she hummed. "Oh! Later," she breathed. "I can do later."

**Author's Note:**

> Listen, I have no idea. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


End file.
